March 1986

Gay Peoples Chronicle

page 3

Crucial Community Services

Need Volunteers

BY SHANA BLESSING

Cleveland is the home of two very valuable services available to the lesbian/gay community. Both the Cleve land Lesbian/Gay Hotline and the Ohio Department of Health AIDS Hotline are operated by the Gay Educational and Awareness Resources (GEAR) Foundation at the Gay Community Center on the near West Side.

GEAR has run the local hotline (651-7111) for the past ten years. Its purpose is to be an information and referral service, with the goal of promoting an acceptance and understanding of homosexuality within the lesbian/gay and the non-gay communities. Toward that end, it performs the following functions:

Encourages and helps callers to deal with issues of sexual orientation for themselves and others;

Informs callers of groups, organizations, and events which support and celebrate lesbians and gay men;

Refers callers to appropriate supportive professionals, including clergy, attorneys, therapists, and medical professionals; and Acquaints callers with lesbian/gay owned and/or supportive businesses.

A typical evening's calls might include someone asking about lesbian/gay AA groups, a caller who is just beginning to come to terms with

her or his homosexual feelings, a person looking for a roommate, an out-of-town visitor asking about bars, someone needing health care information, and an individual who is having difficulty meeting other lesbians or gay men.

The Foundation has been operating the AIDS Hotline for the Ohio Department of Health for the past year. The telephone is accessible toll-free from across the state at 1-800-332-AIDS. The current AIDS crisis and concomitant hysteria have prompted an amazingly wide range of inquiries. Hotline workers help screen the lowrisk worried well from those callers in high risk groups, provide facts about ARC and AIDS to dispel myths, and refer callers to state-funded alternative test sites and private physicians for HTLV-3 antibody testing. The Hotline is also able to help callers deal with AIDS discrimination complaints.

The Cleveland Lesbian/Gay Hotline and the statewide AIDS Hotline share a small dedicated well-trained,

staff who answer the telephones from 4-11 p.m. daily. A grant to improve and expand the capacities of the AIDS Hotline from the Ohio Department of Health will enable the hours to extend from 1-11 p.m. daily. The Foundation is also develop-

LGSU Conference

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Affairs for the National Gay/Lesbian Taskforce; and Mabel Hampton, 83-year-old black lesbian featured in the film "Before Stonewall. The film will be shown during the Conference.

Oven Productions Concert The Saturday night program includes an impressive 3hour concert, presented by Oven Productions, that will feature Teresa frull with Bonnie Hayes; Romanovsky and Phillips; and Dierdre McCalla.

Workshops

Conference workshops are being organized by the newly formed Gay and Lesbian Institute, which has put together an unusually broad range of topics.

Although LGSV obtained an extra room allowing five workshops to run concurrently, lack of space prevented the acceptance of a number of proposals.

The Workshops currently scheduled include Lesbians and Gay Men Working Together; Violence Aginst Women; Peace Camps and International Workshops; Gay and Lesbian Couples; Men and Intimacy; Chemical Dependence; Aerobics; Coming Out; Older Gays and Lesbians; Women's Health and Wellness; Race Relations; Music as Healer; and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

The Health Issues Task-

force will present a psycho drama, Rules and Why Don't I Have a Vote?" on Saturday and Sunday.

The LGSU is hosting a caucus for gay and lesbian college students, to which all relevant Ohio student organizations will be invited.

An interfaith religious service is also being planned.

Social events included in the Conference or attached to it include a Friday evening reception organized by HUGS; a Friday night party sponsored by the Eleanor Roosevelt Gay Political afternoon Club; Saturday cocktain hour hosted by GEAR; and the NOCI Spring into Summer Bash party Saturday night.

Cosponsoring Organizations

Organizations, joining the LGSU in sponsoring the Conference are Eleanor Roosevelt Gay Political Club; Equals; The Gay Educational Awareness Resource Foundation, Inc.; The Gay and Lesbian Institute; Northern Ohio Coalition, Inc.; and Oven Productions.

The Gay Educational

The 1986 Conference Committee includes Peter Beebe, Shana Blessing, Jerry Bores, Charles Callender, Rob Daroff, Bill Davis, Mark_KrobMike oth, Smith, Emmett Vicars, and Martha Webb.

Lesbian/Gay Hotline Counselors David Bickoff (front), and Scott Corrigan take calls at the Community Center

ing an increasingly thorough and comprehensive training program for Hotline volunteers. This program helps develop counselling and crisis intervention skills as well as providing up-tothe-minute information on AIDS. Monthly inservice sessions keep volunteers continually informed.

The Hotlines, invaluable to the community, are seeking compassionate volunteers

willing to commit themselves to one three-hour shift per week (1-4 p.m., 4-7 p.m., or 7-11 p.m.). Introductory training sessions occur every Monday evening at 7 p.m. at the Gay Community Center, 2100 Fulton Road. Consider donating your time to the lesbian/gay community in this impactful way. For please more information, contact Shana Blessing at 651-1999.

GEAR Elections

The annual meeting of the GEAR Foundation took place February 11. The event began at 6 p.m. with the traditional potluck dinner, followed by the monthly convocation of the Board of Trus-, tees. At the conclusion of regular business, elections were held.

Incumbents Nicholas Palumbo and John White were elected President and Vice President, respectively. Kenneth Gibbons retained his position as Secretary. Former Acting Treasurer Emmett Vicars was formally installed as Treasurer. These offices carry one-year terms.

Hotline Director Raymond Carlie Steen, and Schultz, Chuck Mossberger, all of whom have served as Trustees

F Fireworks at

by presidential appointment, were elected to two-year terms. Newcomer Valerie Griffith won the last available position. The seats held by Robert W. Reynolds and Jim Price will not be up for election until 1987.

The GEAR Foundation's Board of Trustees and its Executive Director, Shana Blessing, are looking forward to a healthy and prosDerous new vear of community service. They are convening on the first of March to chart the future course of the organization. Watch for expansion of the Hotlines and other services as part of GEAR's changing image. The lesbian/gay community is urged to become involved in the transformation.

ERGPC Elections

The sparsely attended February 26 meeting of the Eleanor Roosevelt Gay Political Club erupted into unexpected excitement. Its main business, the election of officers was expected simply to ratify the slate nominated, none of whom had opposition.

This normally dull process was enlivened by a surprise write-in campaign, centering on the office of vice-president. Win Weiser, the only nominee, had four votes. But former ERGPC president Margaret Herten, who was not a page 9, col. 1